Tonight's to-do list: buy smokes

NEWS RELEASES

ONTARIO MINISTRY OF FINANCE

MYCHOICE.CA

******************** Tobacco taxes going up $1.25 per carton at midnight tonight

Increase aims to cut down on the number of young people smoking

TORONTO, Jan. 31 - Smokers who have made a new year's resolution to quit will have an additional incentive when the price goes up at midnight tonight, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says. "We are increasing tobacco taxes as the next step in our plan to move toward a smoke-free Ontario," Duncan said. "Young people are especially sensitive to price increases, and anything we can do to get them to stop - or not start in the first place - is a good idea." The $1.25-per-carton increase that takes effect at midnight tonight supports the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which will prohibit smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces in the province, effective May 31, 2006.

It is the next step in bringing Ontario up to the national average of tobacco taxes. In addition to higher tobacco taxes, additional resources have been assigned to enforcing the Tobacco Tax Act. Seizures of contraband tobacco have increased five-fold in the past year, and convictions have increased by 36 per cent. In October 2004, Ontario changed the way it marks tobacco products to make it easier to detect contraband tobacco.

The province has been participating in and contributing to the federal review of tobacco enforcement measures, and endorses the concept of a national strategy. "Tobacco use is a major health issue, but it also has an important financial impact," Duncan said. "It costs taxpayers an estimated $1.7 billion a year in health care spending to treat diseases directly caused by tobacco."

******************* Surprise tax hike just another cash grab from smokers

Tues. Jan. 31, 2006 - Today's out-of-the-blue tax hike against smokers demonstrates once again that the Ontario Government is more interested in revenues and image than in fair policies, says Nancy Daigneault, president of Canada's largest smokers' rights group, mychoice.ca.

Ms. Daigneault took issue with Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's statement that the sudden increase was aimed at giving smokers a gift by helping them to keep New Year's resolutions to quit.

"The reality is that this government has now increased taxes on smokers four times since coming to office less than 30 months ago and seen their revenues from these taxes increase, dramatically," said Ms. Daigneault.

"If helping people quit is the priority, why hasn't this government kept its election promise to help with the high cost of cessation products? Why hasn't it used some of the $1.5 billion it collects in tobacco taxes from smokers to encourage them to try cessation aides?" asked Ms. Daigneault.

"A third of our members are interested in quitting and they know the difference between being gouged with taxes and being helped with sensible programmes," said Ms. Daigneault, whose association has 25,000 members, almost 15,000 of whom are in Ontario.

As for the claim that smokers are a drain on health care, Ms. Daigneault noted that Ontario smokers pay at least $2.5 billion a year in tobacco taxes to the two levels of government that fund health care in Ontario.

This is far more than the $1.7 billion Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman says smoking costs health care in the province.

Ms. Daigneault also questioned the timing of today's announcement, which comes just as the government finds itself under fire for holding back ministerial reports that warned the new province-wide smoking ban, scheduled to come into effect May 31, could cost the province up to $500 million a year in lost gaming revenues and throw many people out of work.

Today's timing is also reminiscent of an identical tax hike announced in January last year in the middle of pre budget hearings.

That move allowed the government to gain a year's worth of extra tax money from smokers, but deliver what it called a no-tax-hike budget later in the spring.

Ms. Daigneault added that the government's tax policies are the result of it listening only to anti-smoking groups and not consulting others about unintended consequences, such as the huge boom in smuggling and black market sales to minors that occurred after taxes were pushed too high in the early 1990s.

Mychoice.ca is an online association which offers a voice for Canada’s adult smokers and other who believe in fair laws, government accountability and personal choice.

It is a registered non-profit organization. It is funded by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council, but operates independently on behalf of the 25,000 individuals who have signed up as members.

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